Geza Anda: The Telefunken Recordings
Geza Anda, piano
Audite 95.720
Total Time:  87:21
Recording:   (*)***/****
Performance: ****/****

Geza Anda was one of the great pianists of the 20^th Century.  Among many notable recordings were the first complete set of Mozart piano concerti for Deutsche Grammophon which he directed from the keyboard.  That touchstone series of recordings was just one of many Anda made throughout his career.  The significance of this release is that it captures a transitional period in the artist’s interpretative approach to music.  Anda’s technical ability is certainly not to be denied here, but it is in the sophistication of his playing, coupled with a more cerebral understanding of the music’s shape, which makes this release important.

Telefunken was an important recording company founded in Berlin as early as 1903.  World War II, and the Nazi era did some damage to its catalogue, but it managed to create a fascinating series of recordings even in the midst of the war, though by the late 1940s most recording sites had been destroyed.  It regrouped again in the 1950s, a period of important technological advances moving from the shellac recordings to vinyl and the ability to record to 45 and 33 rpm.  The present recordings were made in the midst of these latter changes and bridge the transition being originally released on shellac discs and later re-issued on vinyl.  All but the Bach were taken from the vinyl re-issues for this Audite release.

First up on this massive single disc are two historic performances of music by Robert Schumann.  The Carnival, Op. 9 music was first released in 1951 on 3 shellac discs (one of which is wonderfully produced as the back of the interior CD casing.  This would be re-issued on vinyl in 1954.  The same is true of the Symphonic Etudes, Op. 13.  These are fascinating performances with engaging interpretations and virtuosic displays.  The sound is surprisingly fresh with only the outer edges of the piano seeming to challenge the original sound parameters.  There is some “distortion” in the latter work, but not really all that distracting with such a compelling, and often sublime, performance to follow.

Of great historic value is the first ever release of Anda’s performance of the second Bach partita (BWV 826).  For whatever reason, this performance was not reissued on vinyl.  Additional interest lies in the only known existing recording of his performance of the last Mozart piano sonata (K. 576).  This work closes the album, preceded by the Piano Sonata in F, Hob. XVI:23 by Haydn.  These were recorded sometime in 1951.  Throughout these performances, we here the beginning of a new aesthetic approach that returns to a more clear textural presentation of this music, devoid of some of the more romantic excesses that had cropped up over the past 100 years.

This CD presents these recordings re-mastered for the first time on CD.  For fans of Geza Anda, it fills in the gap of his earlier recordings with those he would then turn to in the 1950s.  It also lies at the start of a new, more sophisticated performance style that allows for interpretation within a more period approach.  This nuance may be lost to those less familiar with early 20^th Century virtuoso style, but in one respect this recording bridges the gap toward the deeper appreciation of period style performance that would finally come into its own after Anda’s death in 1976.  At any rate, the repertoire choices are certainly worth anyone’s music library.  The package has good notes on the recordings, not much on the music itself.  The blend of cardboard with the plastic CD insert is fine with some historic photos of the original albums used sparingly to add flavor.

Mozart/Beethoven: Ballet Music
Vasterås Sinfonietta/Roy Goodman
dB Productions 148
Total Time:  77:51
Recording:   ****/****
Performance: ****/****

The present release is an import from Sweden with a photo onits cover of Roy Goodman that looks like it belongs on a disc of swing musicfrom the 1940s.  That dance-master styleshot, though somewhat odd, is a bit appropriate to an album of ballet music insome ways.  The Vasterås Sinfoniettaconsists of “half-time” musicians who come together for this chamber ensemblethroughout the year.  Their attention to performancepractice of the 18^th and 19^th centuries is perhaps one ofmany remarkable traits that is on display in the present recording.

Ballet in the 18^th century was in many respects atrue cosmopolitan affair finding its main outlets in the  bustling cities of London, Paris, andVienna.  Part of this was due to one ofthe great early masters, Jean-Georges Noverre. Noverre would befriend Mozart and commission eventually his Les Petits Riens (1778).  The ballet music from Idomeneo (1781), rarelyheard in concert or on disc, makes for an interesting pairing with a later workby Beethoven, the two works some twenty years apart.  Beethoven would be more fortunate inobtaining a commission for his Creaturesof Prometheus from the Viennese court. But though both may claim a central home, they are quite distinct.

Mozart was no stranger to dance music having composedhundreds of minuets, contredanses, marches, serenades and other smaller “background”social music.  But the chance to includea ballet in his opera was part of a social expectation influenced by a Frenchpractice where ballets often were inserted into operas.  Many times the ballet would have nothing todo with the actual plot, or even have music by the same composer.  In Mozart’s case, he was able to compose themusic himself and there are four movements that are the result (K. 367).  If one is familiar with Rameau’s music, thereis certainly a sense that Mozart had the style in the back of his mind whenwriting these pieces.  The first “chaconne”is strikingly in a High Baroque style, minus a harpsichord continuo.  Paired winds are far less common in the musicthan one might expect and only gradually does the music seem to move closer tomore “Classical” style.  In fact, themusic owes a bit perhaps to Haydn’s music from the previous decade.

Beethoven’s ballet for dance master Salvatore Vigano is alsounique.  Vigano had developed a sort ofhybrid of mime and dance allowing the accompanying music to work quite similarto the way one perceives the underscore in a film—though far more prominent.  From a musical point of view, Creatures is most fascinating.  It too bears some resemblance to Haydn’s later,more firmly “Classical” style.  Haydn’s Creation oratorio was actually performedin the same venue as Beethoven’s work only two years prior.  The contrast in paired winds playing verymuch like one would expect is set against some quite beautiful solo writing forthem all.  And the colors as they arecombined with one another and with different string voices is quiteexquisite.  Something also worth notingis that this is one of the very few works where Beethoven wrote for harp whichappears first in the fifth movement with delicate and gorgeous solos for eachwind instrument.  The finale of theballet features a theme that would appear in the great conclusion to his Eroica symphony.

Pairing these two works together is quite revealing.  For in the Mozart we can hear that connectionto the Baroque and the bridge into the Classical style.  Too often, Mozart’s music tends to be used asexamples of form alone and we often miss the intriguing way his orchestralwriting can be very rooted in late-Baroque style.  It is something that actually occurs in hismore mature music whereas his early symphonies might perhaps be said to be morea Rococo effort linked more to the likes of J.C. Bach than his father.  Beethoven’s music too provides a fascinating listenas we hear classical orchestration quite firmly, with many of his dramatictouches beginning to shift into what we will eventually hear as forebears ofRomantic style.  Certainly the tempest ofthe introduction is one such place and the 14^th movement “allegrocon brio-presto” could easily fall into one of the first two symphonies.  Clarinetists will certainly wish the composerhad written a concerto for them with some of the great solo passages thatappear in the ballet (especially one in the “Solo della Signore Cassentini”movement).  Here in particular Beethoven’sdramatic style is very much a part of this music with punctuated drums andpercussion, and those great crescendos into brass fanfare sectionsforeshadowing the great orchestral works to come.

What makes these connections even easier to hear is thechamber orchestra itself which consists of some 30 players.  The Vasterås Sinfonietta certainly is on finefooting here in music that really showcases their sections and illustratestheir ability to capture the style of the period well.  The result is that many of the textures arecrystal clear and exposed in ways that allow a deeper appreciation for themusic itself.  Roy Goodman’s recordedrepertoire surely prepared him for such an understanding of capturing theessence of the style with tempos that work well for the music and bring out thetext without too much over-interpretation. There have been a few recordings of the Mozart over the years, includingperiod instrument ones (this is not a period instrument performance) and whilesome very good recordings of the Beethoven appeared in the mid 1990s, most ofthose recordings (save perhaps the one with the Orpheus Orchestra) featured farbigger ensembles than is heard here.  Andone might expect that the performances emphasize the more Romantic tendenciesof this music.  The overture has anynumber of fine performances by ensembles big and small.  But nowhere can you hear these two workstogether and performed with such amazing attention to period style and detail.

Highly recommended!